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The main purpose of this article is to explore the factors that motivate people to create, develop and maintain a social entrepreneurship project and also to explore the difficulties and expectations social entrepreneurs face. The research is based on an exploratory study that includes the collection and analysis of qualitative data, involving 13 interviews to social entrepreneurs from Portugal.

The study provides information about the motivations that take individuals to initiate and maintain a social project, standing out the altruism, the passion, the influence of role models, past volunteering experiences and the willing to create and innovate. The mobilization of financial and human resources, as well as the business bureaucracy, are the most frequent difficulties in the process of social venture creation but the will to fight, the persistence and passion the interviewers have, that is, their motivation, seems to be the motto for continuing to battle for their goals.

The aim of this study is to characterize clients’ violence toward social workers in terms of its frequency and type, as well as to identify the organizational measures used to reduce and manage work-related violence.

Data collection involved 3 Portuguese organizations within two different stages, which included the use of interviews and questionnaires directed to social workers (n = 108) and their managers (n = 27).

The results indicate that at least half of the participants were victims of clients’ violence and verbal aggression, which is the most common type of violence. The results also revealed a set of measures of primary, secondary and tertiary interventions that are being used by the organizations involved in this study.

Long-term international assignments’ increase requires more attention being paid for the preparation of these foreign assignments, especially on the recruitment and selection process of expatriates. This article explores how the recruitment and selection process of expatriates is developed in Portuguese companies, examining the main criteria on recruitment and selection of expatriates’ decision to send international assignments. The paper is based on qualitative case studies of companies located in Portugal. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews of 42 expatriates and 18 organisational representatives as well from nine Portuguese companies. The findings show that the most important criteria are: (1) trust from managers, (2) years in service, (3) previous technical and language competences, (4) organisational knowledge and, (5) availability. Based on the findings, the article discusses in detail the main theoretical and managerial implications. Suggestions for further research are also presented.

The present work aims at: (1) assessing whether the Portuguese public sector employees are (or are not) satisfied with their appraisal system; (2) dissecting the relationship between perceptions of justice and accuracy of performance appraisal and satisfaction with that appraisal. In order to attain the aforementioned objectives, we decided to conduct an exploratory empirical study, cross-cutting in nature, focusing on a population of 2247 individuals, from which we obtained 334 responses (n = 334). After statistical analysis of the data collected, with a descriptive and an inferential component, results point towards the fact that employees who have a better perception of justice and accuracy of performance appraisal tend to reveal greater satisfaction with it. However, in general terms, the elements of the sample considered the appraisal process as being unjust, inaccurate and were not satisfied with it.

Demographic aging trends will have consequences concerning the general population, the composition of the workforce and the shortage of some skills in the near future. The aim of this study is to explore what the HRM practices are that workers identify in their organizations, as well as the importance they attach to each of these practices, according to their age.

A survey was carried out on 528 workers from various companies, to this end. This study showed that the dimensions of “Training; Rewards, Recognition and Participation”; and “Performance Evaluation” are the HRM practices most valued by workers of all ages. The dimension of “Flexible Work Practices” shows the lowest average score for older workers. “Job Security” is the practice that all workers, but particularly the older ones, perceive as being less present in the organization.

Workers, in general, value HRM practices more than they perceive them to exist in organizations.

In a hypercompetitive world, the affirmation of virtuosity has faced considerable resistance. However, ethics and morality, voices rise up in defense of a virtuous leadership, capable to give significantly positive contributions to organizations and their employees. Starting from this premise, this research aims to analyze, based on perceptions of the followers, the impact of virtuous leadership in organizational commitment, as well as the contribution of the latter on individual performance. Sustained on a quantitative methodology, we inquired, in a first phase, 113 employees from organizations located in the Portuguese territory, in order to ascertain which virtues are most valued in a leader. The data for hypothesis testing were collected using a battery of tests with 351 employees. The results suggest that the employees’ perceptions, around three dimensions of leadership virtuosity (values-based leadership, perseverance and maturity), contribute to organizational commitment, especially in its affective and normative dimensions, and the latter, in turn, is able to positively influence individual performance.

This experimental study seeks to extend the current knowledge about the impact of corporate social responsibility on organizational attractiveness by analyzing the mediating role of corporate image. To the best of our knowledge, no study has empirically tested this. Participants (n = 195) randomly received an individual survey containing a description of a company as fulfilling (high engagement condition) or not fulfilling (low engagement condition) a set of socially responsible practices, followed by questions about the study variables. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the proposed model has a strong fit to the data, evidencing that the perceived level of engagement in socially responsible practices contributes to triggering the process that leads individuals to evaluate an organization as a good place to work. Corporate social responsibility can thus be a source of competitive advantage regarding the recruitment of new employees. Accordingly, information related to corporate social performance should be considered by recruiters.

According to the self-determination theory, when people choose to work voluntarily and have intrinsic motivations they show more interest and enthusiasm that manifest in their results toward work and general life. With a sample of 2320 temporary agency workers and through structural equations models, our main goal was to analyze the relationship between motivations for being temporary agency workers and work engagement. Additionally, we studied the extent to which more work engagement is associated with higher levels of context free well-being and we also analyzed the role of engagement as mediator in the relationship between motivations and this context free well-being. Generally, the results support our assumptions and suggest the important role of temporary workers’ motivations in their well-being.

To support the assessment of R&D project portfolios and to establish a systemic model to carry multiple evaluations using the decision-maker knowledge, preferences and purposes we have developed an evaluation matrix and a new procedure based on the PROV exponential decision method which uses multiple utility functions modeled to establish a common framework from which we can determine the projects relative value. The presentation of this new procedure is the main focus of this article and numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed approaches to attain comprehensible results and to discover the most valuable R&D projects to support investment decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the state of KM research from the standpoint of existing methodologies. The state of KM research is assessed by examining the research design, number of hypothesis testing, research methods, data analysis techniques and level of analysis. The review of KM research is based on 344 published articles where has KM in their title, which is published in seven journals. Major findings show that qualitative research methods such as a case study and conceptual models hold greater credibility. The gaps identified in the review were (a) the research at an inter organizational level is very less, (b) hypothesis testing is being done in very less number of articles and maximum articles have done only conceptual analysis, and (c) mathematical models are used in very limited articles. This methodological review will provide a better understanding of the current state of research in the KM discipline.